JP2002325741A - Biological information measuring instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the housing properties and appearance of a cable for connecting a human body placing part and a grip part. SOLUTION: A human body placing part 2 and a grip part 4 are connected by a cable 7, and the cable 7 is taken up and housed by a take-up means 8. Thus, the cable 7 is invisible and appearance in the case of no use is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a biological information measuring device for calculating information on a living body based on body impedance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional biological information measuring device of this type is generally, for example, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-59744.

FIG. 8 shows the appearance of a conventional biometric device.

This device has a hand electrode 3 on a holding portion 4 that can be held by both hands of a main body 22 and an electrode 1 on a foot electrode portion 21 connected by a cable 7. After the subject's information on weight and gender is input by the key group 5, the device body 22 is gripped with both hands, and the measurement is performed while riding on the foot electrode unit 21 to measure the grip unit 4 and the foot electrode. The impedance between the limbs is measured by the electrodes 1 and 3 provided in the part 21 being in contact with the palms and soles of the feet, and information on the living body is obtained by calculation based on the impedance and the input information of the subject. Could be done.

[0005]

However, in the conventional biological information measuring device, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-59744, the cables connecting the device body and the foot electrode portion are not separately grouped when the device is not used. And it fell apart and was unsightly.

In addition, depending on how the cable is put together, there is a possibility that the cable itself will not only be difficult to use because it is entangled or entangled at the next use, and that the cable itself may be damaged.

[0007] Further, the length of the cable needs to be long enough to accommodate a tall subject.
When the height of the subject is short, the slack portion of the cable becomes large, which is an obstacle.

In addition, since it is necessary to input information on the subject such as height and weight, the measurement is troublesome. Especially when measuring at home, weighing scales are widely used and can be used to input accurate values because they can be measured relatively easily, but height scales are not so popular and it is difficult to measure accurately. Accompanied by Therefore, the height is often input by relying on memory, and the measurement result may be inaccurate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and improves the external appearance when the apparatus is not used by storing the cable by a winding means provided inside the human body mounting portion when not in use. It is an object of the present invention to provide a biological information measuring device in which the number of inputs of physical information of a subject is reduced by automatic measurement of a cable length during measurement, and operability and measurement accuracy are improved.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention connects a grip portion provided with a hand electrode and a human body rest portion provided with a foot electrode with a cable, and winds up the cable. With the means, the cable can be stored when the device is not in use, and can be stored neatly and smartly.

At this time, since the cable is wound in a predetermined manner, the cable is not bundled so as to be bent at a steep angle, and no tangling or tangling occurs, so that the cable is less painful.

In addition, since a cable length measuring means is provided to calculate information on the living body by adding the cable length to the information on the subject, there is no need to input the height. Since information on the living body is calculated based on the body length information measured in the field, the accuracy is improved.
In addition, erroneous calculations due to input errors do not occur, and accurate measurement can be performed.

Further, in the measurement of body fat percentage, which is one of the information on the living body, the length of the head from the hand directly related to the measurement is directly measured without the length of the head which does not contribute much to the calculation. As a result, more accurate measurement can be performed. Moreover, since these are measured by the length of the cable pulled out of the body resting portion by the winding means, there is no need for a large mechanism as in a general height meter, and the apparatus itself is extremely compact. It occupies a small volume and is very easy to store and move.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to a first aspect of the present invention is directed to a foot electrode which comes into contact with a foot of a person to be measured; Hand electrode that comes into contact with the hand of a person, a grip portion that includes the hand electrode, and that is gripped by the person to be measured during measurement, and an impedance measuring unit that measures impedance between the foot electrode and the hand electrode And, input means for inputting the subject information representing the physical characteristics of the subject, calculating means for calculating information about the living body from the impedance and the subject information, and notification means for reporting the calculation result, When the device is not used, the cable connecting the grip and the human body rest is wound by connecting the grip to the body rest with a cable and having a winding means for winding the cable. Human body placement by means Since can be stored in, at the time of device-use it can be stored in clean and smart cable. At this time, the cable is wound in a predetermined manner, so that the cable is bundled so as to be bent at a steep angle, and no tangling or tangling occurs.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the winding means of the first aspect is an automatic winding means for winding the cable when no tension is applied to the cable. Since the cable can be stored in the body rest part without using it,
We can store cable clearly smartly. Further, since the cable can be automatically wound up without any special operation, usability is greatly improved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in particular, the biological information measuring apparatus according to the first or second aspect further comprises a cable length measuring means for measuring a length of a cable pulled out for measurement, and the calculating means Calculates the information on the living body by adding the cable length to the subject information, and calculates the information by adding the cable length as the subject information by the cable length measuring means. There is no. Therefore, to calculate information about the living body based on body length information measured on the spot, not height based on memory,
Accuracy improves. In addition, erroneous calculations due to input errors do not occur, and accurate measurement can be performed.

Furthermore, when measuring the body fat percentage, which is one of the representative information on the living body, the length of the head which does not contribute much to the measurement is omitted, and the length of the hand to the foot directly related to the measurement is reduced. Since the measurement can be performed directly, more accurate measurement can be performed. Moreover, since these are measured by the length of the cable pulled out of the body resting portion by the winding means, there is no need for a large mechanism as in a general height meter, and the apparatus itself is extremely compact. It occupies a small volume and is very easy to store and move.

The invention described in claim 4 is particularly advantageous in claims 1 to 3.
The human body mounting section according to any one of the above, further comprising a weight measuring section for measuring the weight of the subject, the calculating means to calculate the information on the living body by adding weight to the subject information By doing so, the calculation can be performed by adding the weight as the subject information, and there is no need to input the weight as the subject information, so that the usability is improved.
Further, since the weight is obtained by actual measurement, the measurement accuracy of the information on the living body can be improved. Furthermore, if the body length information by the cable length measuring means can be calculated in addition to the subject information, the subject can measure by simply entering the gender as the subject information, greatly improving usability. I do. Also, since the input information is only gender, there is no input error, and the measurement accuracy of the information on the living body can be extremely increased.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In order to make the explanation concrete, in this embodiment, the information on the living body is described as the body fat percentage. However, it is calculated from the bioelectrical impedance and the subject information representing the physical characteristics of the subject. As long as it measures and calculates information on the living body to be performed, for example, even if it is a bone density measuring device, even if it measures muscle mass or muscle fatigue, it does not depart from the gist of the present invention. Not something.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is an external view of a biological information measuring apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram thereof, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view at the time of measurement. The biological information measuring device of the present embodiment has a human body mounting portion 2 as an outer shell of the device body, and foot electrodes 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d are attached thereto. In this embodiment, 1a and 1b are electrically short-circuited and are one end of an electrode of a pair of constant current power supply units 9a. 1c and 1d are electrically short-circuited and a pair of human body resistors. One end of an electrode of the potential detector 9b,
The aforementioned constant current power supply section 9a and the human body resistance potential detecting section 9b constitute the impedance measuring means 9. The human body mounting section 2 is provided with a group of setting keys 5 as input means for inputting subject information, and a liquid crystal display 6 as notifying means. The human body placing section 2 and the grip section 4 are connected by a cable 7. Reference numeral 8 indicated by a dotted line denotes winding means for winding the cable 7 provided inside the human body mounting portion 2.

The hand electrodes 3a and 3b are made of a conductive metal material and are wrapped around and fixed to the grip 4, and 3a is one end of an electrode of a constant current power supply 9a paired with the foot electrodes 1a and 1b. Reference numeral 3b denotes one end of an electrode of the human body resistance potential detecting section 9b paired with the foot electrodes 1c and 1d.

As shown in FIG. 3, the person to be measured 10 grips the gripping portion 4 and pulls it to pull out the cable 7 wound by the winding means 8 to a desired length, or after pulling the cable 7, the human body. Ride on the placing section 2 with bare feet. At this time, the hand electrodes 3a and 3b are in contact with the palm of the subject 10, and the foot electrodes 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d are in contact with the soles of the feet of the subject 10.

As shown in FIG. 2, the foot electrodes 1a, 1b, 1
c, 1d and the hand electrodes 3a, 3b are connected to the impedance measuring means 9. The impedance measuring means 9 supplies a constant current between the short-circuited foot electrodes 1a and 1b and the hand electrode 3a by the constant current power supply 9a by the four-terminal method, and the short-circuited foot electrodes 1c and 1d and the hand electrode. The impedance is measured by measuring the voltage between the 3b and the human body resistance potential detecting section 9b. In this embodiment, a weak current of 50 kHz and 500 μA which is not felt by the human body is used. The measured impedance is input to the microcomputer 11 as a calculating means. The key group 5 and the liquid crystal display 6 described above are connected to the microcomputer 11. Although the foot electrodes 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d in the embodiment have been described as being short-circuited, however, a configuration in which only 1a and 1c but no 1b and 1d, or a configuration in which there is no 1a and 1c but only 1b and 1d, Measurement of the impedance between the limb and the foot is possible and does not depart from the scope of the present invention. In addition, the electrodes of the constant current source unit 9a in the impedance measuring means 9 are 1a, 1b and 3a, and the electrodes of the human body resistance potential detecting unit 9b are 1c, 1d and 3b, but the electrodes of the constant current source unit 9a are 1c. , 1b and 3b, and the electrodes of the human body resistance potential detecting section 9b are 1a, 1b and 3a, it is possible to measure the impedance between the limb and the foot without departing from the scope of the present invention. (Hereafter, in order to simplify the description, the foot electrodes 1a, 1a
b, 1c, and 1d are collectively referred to as foot electrodes 1 and hand electrodes 3
a, 3b are collectively referred to as hand electrodes 3).

Next, the operation and operation will be described. Prior to measurement, the subject 10 operates the key group 5 to input height, weight, and gender as subject information. The key group 5 is connected to the microcomputer 11, and the subject information is input to the microcomputer 11 in advance. Next, as shown in FIG.
In this embodiment, the gripping portion 4 is gripped while the arm having the prescribed measurement posture in the present embodiment is extended forward and horizontally, and rides on the human body placing portion 2. At this time, the hand electrode 3 contacts the palm of the subject 10 and the foot electrode 4 contacts the sole of the subject 10. The hand electrode 3 and the foot electrode 4 are connected to the impedance measuring means 9 and measure the impedance between the limbs of the subject 10. When the impedance from the impedance measuring means 9 is input to the microcomputer 11,
The microcomputer 11 calculates the body fat percentage from the impedance and the subject information by a program, and outputs the result to the liquid crystal display 6. Various formulas are known for calculating the body fat percentage. In this example, Brozec's formula (Brozec et al.'S report J. Brozec,
F. Grande, JT Anderson and A. Key; “An NY Acad.sci
110 (1963) 113-40). This equation is, for example, for a male body density = 1.154-. 0841 × body weight × impedance / height ² body fat percentage (%) = (4.95 / body density−4.5) × 10
It is obtained from 0. Although this formula is a formula for a male, it can be applied to a female by changing the coefficient of each unit. Therefore, the formula is switched based on the gender included in the subject information. In addition, many other formulas have been reported for the formula for calculating the body fat percentage, but any formula for calculating the body fat percentage from impedance deviates from the gist of the present invention. Not something.

In this embodiment, the body fat percentage obtained from the impedance is displayed as it is, but the body fat weight, the lean fat weight, the lean fat percentage, etc., determined from the body fat percentage are displayed. Is also good. Although the key group 5 formed by a combination of an up-down switch and an input switch is used as the input means, any input method using a 10-key or a rotary encoder can be used as long as the target person information can be input. Even a rotating input means does not depart from the scope of the present invention. In addition, although the liquid crystal display is used as the notifying means, other notifying means, for example, those using a light emitting diode and those notifying by voice are also included in the scope. Further, the frequency and the magnitude of the current can be arbitrarily changed as long as the constant current is in a range not felt by the human body. Further, in this embodiment, the impedance is measured between the right hand and both feet, but if the impedance between the limbs can be measured, between the left hand and both feet,
The right hand and the right foot, the right hand and the left foot, the left hand and the right foot, the left hand and the left foot, and combinations thereof are free. In addition, the grip portion is a cylindrical shape that can be held with one hand, but the shape is not limited, and the shape is arbitrary as long as it is easy to grasp and the hand electrode can securely contact the hand. .

When the measurement is completed and stored, the measurer 10 pulls the cable 7 lightly so that the winding means 8 performs the winding operation, and stores the cable 7 in the winding means 8 so that the apparatus can be used when the apparatus is not used. We can store cable clearly smartly. At this time, the cable is wound in a predetermined manner, so that the cable is bundled so as to be bent at a steep angle, and no tangling or tangling occurs.

As shown in FIG. 1, if the holding portion tray 12 is provided in the main body of the apparatus as a storage portion of the holding portion 4, the storage property is further improved.

In the present embodiment, the winding means 8 is provided inside the human body mounting portion 2. However, even if the winding means 8 is built in the grip portion 4, it does not lose the function as a biological information measuring device. In addition, the same effect can be obtained in the storage.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 4 is an external view of a biological information measuring apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory view at the time of measurement. The difference from the first embodiment is that the winding means 8 is an automatic winding means 13 for automatically winding the cable 7 when no tension is applied. Subject 10
As shown in FIG. 5, by grasping the gripper 4 and pulling it,
The cable 7 wound by the automatic winding means 13 is pulled out, takes a prescribed measurement posture, and rides on the human body mounting portion 2 with bare feet.

The measurement of the body fat percentage, which is one of the representative information on the living body, is the same as in the first embodiment, and the description is omitted.

When the measurement is completed and stored, the measurer 10 releases the gripping portion 4 or releases the gripping portion 4 so that the automatic winding means 13 winds up and stores the cable 7. And when the device is not in use, the cables can be stored neatly and smartly. Also, at this time, the cable is uniformly wound up by a predetermined method, so that the cable is not bundled so as to be bent at a steep angle, and entanglement, tangling, etc. do not occur, so that the cable is less painful.

As shown in FIG. 4, if the holding part tray 12 is provided in the main body of the apparatus as a storage part of the holding part 4, the storage ability is further improved.

In the present embodiment, the automatic winding means 13 is provided inside the human body placing section 2, but the automatic winding means 13 loses its function as a biological information measuring device even if it is built in the grip portion 4. Instead, the same effect in storage can be obtained.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of a cable length measuring means provided in a biological information measuring apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. In the present invention, as the cable length measuring means 17, the length measurement of the cable 7 is realized using a light emitting element and a light receiving element as sensors, and this method will be described. Numeral 13 denotes an automatic winding means, which comprises a bobbin 13a for winding the cable and a spring 13b arranged in a direction narrowed when the cable 7 is pulled out.
a. At the time of measurement, the person to be measured grasps the grip portion 4 and takes a prescribed measurement posture. The cable 7 is pulled out of the bobbin 13a to a length for taking a prescribed measurement posture. At this time, the cable 7 is marked at equal intervals, and the amount of light reflected from the light emitting element 14a changes according to the marking on the cable 7. The pulse coefficient means 15 receives the changing light amount by the light receiving element 14b and converts it into an electric signal according to the light amount.
By counting the strength of the electric signal output by b, it is possible to count how many markings on the cable 7 have passed at the positions of the light emitting element 14a and the light receiving element 14b. The drawer length calculation means 16 includes the cable 7
Is a known value, it is possible to calculate the length of the cable 7 pulled out by multiplying the count value of the pulse counting means 15 by the known marking interval. By this, the distance from the hand to the foot, which is highly correlated to the height, which is one of the body information of the subject, is replaced by the length of the cable, so that when calculating the body fat percentage of the subject, Cable 7 pulled out instead of height
If you use a calculation formula that uses the length of the body, you do not need to enter the height separately, so you can greatly reduce the time and effort required to enter the height. Since the body fat percentage is calculated based on the information, the accuracy is improved. In addition, erroneous calculations due to input errors do not occur, and accurate measurement can be performed.

In this embodiment, an example in which the length of the cable 7 is measured by using the light emitting element and the light receiving element has been described. However, for example, if the rotary encoder for detecting the rotation direction is added to the bobbin 13a, the cable may be used. It is possible to detect the pull-out direction and the winding direction, and to add and subtract the count of the marking in accordance with the direction, it is possible to calculate the cable length with higher accuracy, or even to provide the rotary encoder on the bobbin 13a, If the bobbin diameter is known, the cable length can be calculated from the number of rotations of the bobbin, and any method may be used as long as the length of the cable 7 can be measured without departing from the gist of the present invention. is not.

(Embodiment 4) FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a biological information measuring apparatus according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. The difference from the first embodiment is that a weight measuring unit 18 for detecting a load on the human body placing unit 2 is provided. The weight detecting means 18 is connected to the microcomputer 11 which is a calculating means. The microcomputer 11 uses the load on the human body placing section 2 obtained by the weight detecting means 18 as the weight data of the subject and as a parameter when calculating the body fat percentage. A specific method of calculating the body fat percentage is the same as that in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted. Thus, there is no need to input weight data, which is one of the parameters required for calculating the body fat percentage, and the operation can be reduced. Also,
In general, the body weight of a human body changes more than 1 kg in the course of eating, exercising, defecation, etc. within a day. Since it is an indispensable factor in the measurement, the body weight can be measured by a series of operations of the body fat percentage measurement, so that the accurate body fat percentage can always be calculated.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a state where the device is not used, the entire device can be displayed in an orderly manner even though there is a cable which is likely to be separated.

Further, the input operation of the physical information can be simplified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a biological information measurement device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the biological information measuring device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram at the time of measurement in Example 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an external view of a biological information measuring device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram when a biological information measuring device is used according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a cable length measuring unit according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a biological information measuring device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an external view of a conventional biological information measuring device.

[Description of Signs] 1, 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d Foot electrode 2 Human body placement section 3, 3a, 3b Hand electrode 4 Grip section 5 Key group (input means) 6 Liquid crystal display (notification means) 7 Cable Reference Signs List 8 winding means 9 impedance measuring means 10 subject 11 microcomputer (calculating means) 13 automatic winding means 17 cable length measuring means 18 weight measuring means

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Toshiyuki Tanaka 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Osaka Pref. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Term (reference) 4C027 AA06 CC00 DD05 EE01 GG00 GG15 GG16 HH01 HH11 KK00 KK01 KK03

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A foot electrode that comes into contact with a foot of a subject, a human body mounting portion that includes the foot electrode and on which the subject rides upon measurement, and a hand electrode that contacts a hand of the subject. A grip portion provided with the hand electrode and held by a subject with his / her hand at the time of measurement, impedance measuring means for measuring impedance between the foot electrode and the hand electrode, and representing physical characteristics of the subject Input means for inputting the subject information, calculating means for calculating information on the living body of the subject from the impedance between the foot electrodes and the hand electrodes and the subject information, and calculating results of the calculating means. A biological information measuring device having a notifying unit for notifying, a connecting unit for electrically connecting the grip unit and the human body mounting unit with a cable, and a winding unit for winding the cable. 2. The biological information measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the winding means is an automatic winding means for winding the cable when no tension is applied to the cable. 3. A cable length measuring means for measuring the length of a cable pulled out, wherein the calculating means calculates information on the living body of the subject by adding the cable length to the information on the subject. The biological information measuring device according to claim 1. 4. A weight measuring section for measuring the weight of a person to be measured is provided on the body placing section, and the calculating means calculates information on the living body of the person to be measured by adding weight to the information of the person to be measured. The biological information measuring device according to claim 1.